COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine — Wreaths Across America (WAA) will begin a national tour in February 2022, with trips to South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
WAA is the non-profit organization that’s known for placing wreaths on veterans’ headstones at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
However, in 2020 alone, the organization placed more than 1.7 million sponsored veterans’ wreaths at 2,557 participating locations nationwide, according to a news release.
“(WAA) is overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from communities throughout the country for its Mobile Education Exhibit (MEE),” the news release stated.
“The MEE is a rolling interactive exhibit that remembers the nation’s fallen veterans, honors those who serve and teaches the next generation about the value of freedom. In February 2021, the MEE left Maine and began its national tour in Alabama and will be finish this year’s tour as a member of “the escort to Arlington” — the week-long outreach event which will culminate at Arlington National Cemetery for Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 18.”
In March 2022, WAA will return to Alabama and will also visit Mississippi for the first time. In April 2022, Louisiana and Arkansas will be the tour’s focus. In May 2022, the MEE will turn north and visit Ohio, Michigan and parts of Wisconsin, according to the news release.
The exhibit will continue in Wisconsin in June 2022, then travel to Minnesota.
From there, it will make its way out west, welcoming home Vietnam veterans in all new areas of the country, including Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
Starting in September 2022, the MEE will make its way back east with stops in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri before joining next year’s escort to Arlington.
“The goal of the Wreaths Across America Mobile Education Exhibit is to bring communities together and teach about the organization’s mission while remembering the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes,” said Don Queeney, director of transportation.
“The exhibit serves as a mobile museum, educating visitors about the service and sacrifice of our nation’s heroes as well as to serve as an official ‘welcome home’ station for our nation’s Vietnam veterans.”
The public tour stops for the MEE are free and open to the public, with local COVID-19 safety procedures in place to protect the health of all visitors in accordance with the CDC’s recommendation.
To sponsor a wreath or for more information, click here.
Each sponsorship goes toward a live, balsam wreath that will be placed on the headstone of an American veteran on Dec. 18, as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
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